Esher 49 Bradford & Bingley 21

This result, combined with Barking's 22-5 victory at Harrogate, sent newly-promoted Bradford & Bingley to the bottom of National League Two.

But confidence has not been shattered by five successive defeats.

"Some teams would be crushed by the start that we had but the first half against second-placed Esher on Saturday was our best of the season," said centre Phil Greaves.

"It was a fantastic atmosphere in front of 800 to 1,000 fans and the facilities were on a par with ours - things like playing on a nice, flat pitch.

"We were leading 9-3 with minutes to go to half-time, Tom Rhodes was kicking them to death and our kick-chase was superb.

"Not only had he landed three penalties but he was pinning them back with kicks to the corners, and Esher got a converted try from a spilt ball that meant we turned round 10-9 behind.

"However, our defence was superb, with all the players coming up in a line."

Yellow cards eventually cost the Bees dear, however, as Esher scored at almost a point a minute in the second half.

Flanker Ian Judson received two - one for stamping and another for taking a man out in the air at a line-out - and No 8 Hese Fakatou and second row Barry Clark were also sin-binned, Fakatou's being for coming in at the side and then for not releasing.

All told, Bradford & Bingley only had 15 men on the field for ten minutes in the second half, and for one ten-minute spell they only had 13 men on the field.

Nevertheless, the visitors still managed three tries - a driving maul by Neil Spence, a Joe Simpson try after he collected a Rhodes grubber kick and a Mark Kirkby touchdown in the left-hand corner.

Unfortunately, Kirkby's score came with only two minutes to go and there was no chance for the Bees to collect a bonus point for a fourth try.

Greaves said: "Our head coach Geoff Wappett went round all our team and patted everyone on the back.

"He was really chuffed and said that sometimes the performance was more important than the result."

Former Otley player Greaves added: "We aren't far away from a win. In fact, if we play like we did in the first half, I reckon we can beat joint leaders Launceston at Wagon Lane next weekend."